SermonStudio

Survivor -- after all these years on television, you are familiar with the concept -- castaway contestants on an isolated beach in search of adventure and a $1-million grand prize -- sort of Gilligan's Island meets Regis Philbin. They compete in twisted survival games, jungle obstacles, swimming relays, and larva eating. Even more harrowing, they gather for a "tribal council" at the end of every episode, and after, "the tribe has spoken," one more contestant is booted off the island. The last person to survive the physical challenges and the Darwinian selection takes home the cash.

I confess that I am not a fan of the programs -- my idea of being a rugged outdoorsman involves riding in a golf cart and roughing it for me is staying at the Holiday Inn. I am even less thrilled at the episodes concluding with the barely disguised metaphor for human sacrifice. But, CBS has not missed my non-participation for lo these many years -- millions of viewers love the shows.

With that as background, think again of the text from Ephesians. The apostle Paul says we are also in a contest, in mortal combat even, "against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil ..." (v. 12). And we have to admit he is right. Our opponents are not Rich or Kelly or Rudy or Sue, but much tougher ones. You and I are up against evil that goes beyond human comprehension -- systemic evil that pervades our lives.

We who are in America, the richest nation that the world has ever seen, know that some of our citizens have to sleep in doorways or in alleys or in dumpsters to avoid the wet or cold. Is that evil? Of course it is! Whose fault is it? Some miserable, hard-hearted building owner who refuses people a warm room? Or is it the fault of the system that even in peacetime sees its priorities as bombs before beds? Do you think it is evil to have teenagers make a better living selling drugs in the schoolyard than selling hamburgers at McDonald's? Whose fault is it? Abominable drug dealers who pay too much, or upstanding employers who pay too little? There is a system here. Do you think it is evil to allow sick people to go without available medical treatment or nursing home care when it is needed? Certainly it is. But treatment and care cost money. Is it the meanness and greed of doctors and hospitals that keep people from treatment? Or is it the system that is not willing to pay to have this care provided? My point is that there is evil out there that is beyond the capacity of you or me to correct. Paul understood that ... probably better than we do. He saw that this would be "survival of the fittest."

So how do we become Christian "survivors"? If Paul were writing today, he might use illustrations drawn from the television experience, but as a creature of his own time, he talks of survival equipment in terms his contemporaries would understand. He uses a picture of the first-century's quintessential survivor, a Roman legionnaire, and suggests the way he is outfitted as a metaphor for our Christian survival equipment. Paul calls it "the armor of God."

First he talks about the belt, that which holds things together. The "girdle of truth," as the old King James Version has it. One of the complaints we hear from contestants on the Survivor series is that they often were not truthful with one another. In fact, outright lies are employed as a strategy of the contest. If deliberate deception were limited to tropical islands, we might pass it off, but we know better.

Next, Paul talks about the breastplate of righteousness. Please do not misunderstand. Biblical righteousness does not mean blamelessness; it refers to the character of a relationship. Paul wants us to know that we will never be able to withstand the evil in this world without the protection of a right relationship with the Lord.

Then there are the shoes of the gospel of peace. There is something paradoxical in presenting the warrior in the midst of battle equipped with peace. Paul knows that to establish the peace of God in the universe (which is our ultimate aim), we must do battle against the spiritual evil which disturbs that peace. Perhaps the reason Paul uses the metaphor of shoes is that peace is something that we cannot hope to convey by sitting on our rusty-dusty. Peace will not magically break out.

Then there is the shield of faith. To properly translate here we should read "faithfulness" -- the Greek word is the same -- and remember that we are talking about God's armor, so to speak of God's faith would not make sense. The Bible is full of stories of God's faithfulness. There is that wonderful parable in the Old Testament in the book of Hosea. The prophet was instructed to take himself a wife -- not some sweet, young thing, but a prostitute named Gomer. She ran off after the wedding. He went after her. He gave her presents. She ran off again. He went after her again. She bore three children (presumably not Hosea's), but none of that mattered. Hosea never gave up on Gomer. The message of the book that bears that prophet's name is that God never gives up on his people, no matter how low they go. No matter how unfaithful we are, God will always be faithful. For those in the midst of a struggle for survival, it is comforting to know that our God will never desert us, will always stand by us, and will never let us down.

Next, Paul talks about the helmet of salvation. Salvation does not mean pie in the sky by and by. Salvation means health, wholeness, something similar to the old Hebrew word, Shalom. Salvation is a description of life the way God meant life to be lived.

The reason Paul called salvation a helmet is because a helmet offers protection for the head. Too often Christian people either act or fail to act because they think they know what God wants. Sometimes we even misidentify the enemy, and that always results in disaster. Someone has said that the church is the only army in history that shoots its own wounded. Friendly fire? Ha! We need God's protection for our heads if we are to ultimately survive.

The final piece of equipment is the sword of the spirit -- the word of God. It has been noted that, of all the equipment for Christian soldiers, this is the only source of offense. And, no question, some faithful folks have been most offensive in their use of God's word -- they have used it as a club to bludgeon people into one narrow, little theological mold. I do not think that is the appropriate use for the sword.

Perhaps the phrase might be better understood by looking at another passage where God's word is compared to a sword. Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." This is hardly an offensive attack. It is exploratory surgery. If Paul had written in the twenty-first century, he might have called God's word, not the sword, but the scalpel of the spirit.

Paul gives one final instruction. He says pray -- pray at all times and pray for one another. There is a wonderful reminder here that we are not Lone Rangers on this island. We are members of a tribe -- not the Tagi or the Pagong, but that vast company of saints through the ages known as the church of Jesus Christ. We are not alone.

Being a Christian "survivor" -- yes, there is a contest going on, not against Rich and Kelly and Rudy and Sue, but, as Paul says, "Against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil ..." against everything that would make life less than the Lord intended for all creation, even you and me. Our "tribe has spoken." We must survive. We can survive. And, we will survive.